Mission
The mission of Connecticut Fund for the Environment and its program, Save the Sound, is to protect and improve the land, air and water of Connecticut and Long Island Sound. We use legal and scientific expertise and bring people together to achieve results that benefit our environment for current and future generations.
Impact
At CFE, we have a vision for transforming neighborhoods into greener, cooler places to live – places where stormwater pollution is filtered before it reaches our coastal waterways and Long Island Sound; where aging, leaking sewers are identified and repaired, keeping bacterial pollution out of the Sound and making beach closings a thing of the past; and where sewage treatment plants are held accountable for excess nitrogen discharges into the Sound that cause oxygen-deprived “dead zones.”
Corporations and government interests cannot always be relied upon to put public health before private gain. Our region needs someone who can fight for the public’s environmental rights in court. Without the legal component of CFE and Save the Sound, Connecticut and western Long Island Sound would be a very different place to live.
Connecticut Fund for the Environment and its bi-state Save the Sound program take on broad, significant and widespread environmental issues with the potential to bring about systemic change. We are uniquely qualified to do so. Our core strengths include policy development and advocacy, coalition-building, and, when necessary, litigation. We collaborate with stakeholders and work with communities, inspiring action to protect our area’s land, air, and water. We have 40+ years of experience in conducting public education and outreach, and building diverse coalitions to lay the groundwork for our legal and legislative advocacy to produce results. We see to it that environmental laws currently on the books are enforced, and advocate for environmental policies and regulations needed to protect the safety and well-being of all.
Needs
We could not accomplish all that we do without the help and involvement of many people. All our efforts—from legislative advocacy to planting rain gardens—are more successful with the participation of concerned individuals who care about protecting the environment and public health. There are many ways to help. When thousands speak with one voice, thought leaders and policymakers listen. Sign up to receive action alerts on the issues that most concern you, stay informed about key environmental issues in Connecticut and coastal New York, and make your voice heard. Periodically, we need volunteers to help install native plants as part of habitat restoration projects, and plant rain gardens. Volunteers also participate as part of our citizen-science, water-quality monitoring program. Each summer, teams of trained volunteers around the western Sound test local waters for bacterial contamination and other signs of sewage overflows. Others become “watch dogs” for sewage leaks and other forms of contamination into their local waterways. Each fall, CFE/Save the Sound coordinates 50+ beach cleanup events in communities across Connecticut as part of the International Coastal Cleanup. We need people to join an established shore or watercraft cleanup, as well those who are willing to register as a Cleanup Captain to organize their own beach cleanup team. Visit our website ctenvironment.org to find out more about how you can help.
CEO Statement
Our organization is indebted to the efforts of citizens like you.
With your help, we've been able to stem multiple threats to our state's land, air and water. We've achieved tangible results through legal and legislative advocacy and through citizen engagement. These results include helping to win passage of the Global Warming Solutions Act, which put Connecticut among a handful of states (California, Hawaii, Maryland, Massachusetts, and New Jersey) that have committed to concrete carbon reductions in a specific time frame. As of this year, we have completed 42 habitat restoration projects with a broad spectrum of partners, including federal and state agencies, municipalities, other nonprofit groups and local volunteers. Our restoration statistics are impressive: 80 river miles opened up to fish passage, 509 acres of lake habitat restored for fish passage through installation of fishways and other improvements, 322 acres of degraded tidal marsh restored, and 25 acres of native vegetation installed. We also completed 7,761 square feet of green infrastructure installations, such as rain gardens and bioswales, that will divert more than 1 million gallons of untreated stormwater runoff from the Sound from approximately 2 acres of impervious surfaces.
Practical solutions to safeguarding Connecticut's land, air and water require many levels of expertise. Our staff of lawyers, scientists and outreach experts does the tough work of finding solutions that work. We then bring those solutions to our state legislature, state agencies and the courts.
Our successes also require teamwork. We form alliances with citizens, scientists, advocates, community groups, engineers, unions, businesses and other diverse groups. For example, we know there's a long way to go if we want to clean up sewage overflows and restore the low oxygen "dead zone" in Long Island Sound. So we've joined forces with towns, engineers and the construction industry to convince the state to invest in the Clean Water Fund to finance major sewage projects designed to clean up our rivers and the Sound and to create jobs at the same time.
Most importantly, though, Connecticut would be a very different place without your contributions and support. We cannot clean up beaches, win legislative battles or restore a river without you. Your continued moral and financial support for our work to confront the threats to our land, water and air and to Long Island Sound make all the difference. Please join your fellow citizens who take the time to make a key phone call to an elected official, or help out along with the more than 2,500 volunteers each year who join one of our beach cleanups or habitat restoration plantings. Thank you!
Board Chair Statement
For more than 40 years, CFE has been a respected and impressive force for protecting the land, air and water of Connecticut and Long Island Sound through innovative solutions, collaborative achievements, solid science, committed advocacy and, when necessary, strategic litigation. Environmental issues take many years to resolve. Someone has to push back to defend the wider interests of the community -- someone who is in the fight for the long haul. Thanks to your support, Connecticut Fund for the Environment and its program Save the Sound have fought and won on critical issues to protect public health and preserve our environment like:
• Blocking Broadwater -- a massive 20-story natural gas plant that would have dominated the skyscape of Long Island Sound for decades to come;
• Persuading the State of Connecticut to protect all 18,700 acres of the Kelda water company's lands and reservoirs in a $90 million purchase by the State and The Nature Conservancy; and
• Successfully advocating for Connecticut's adoption of the strictest tailpipe emission standards for cars, and a requirement that new cars offered for sale be labeled with their greenhouse gas emission values.
While we’ve waged these big battles, we’ve also made steady achievements like restoring dozens of river miles and acres of lake habitat, native vegetation and tidal marsh through our habitat restoration program, and removing nearly thousands of pounds of trash from Connecticut beaches in a decade of serving as Connecticut coordinator for the International Coastal Cleanup.
CFE/Save the Sound more than makes up for its relatively small size by having BIG impacts. We aren't afraid to tackle major environmental issues or large, well-funded corporate interests that disrespect environmental values. Your investment in this organization helps ensure that we are here to use our tremendous legal and scientific expertise year after year. Thank you for your support and your faith in our mission.